NEWS - ECONOMY SQUEEZES 'FAMILY SHELTER' (Columbia, SC)

Monday, Jun. 13, 2011

Economy squeezes Family Shelter

By BERTRAM RANTIN -  

The Family Shelter’s 30-year tradition of serving transitional homeless families is being threatened as an increasingly tight economy is straining the residential facility’s ability to balance its books.
Agency leaders say the landmark homeless shelter needs to raise $100,000 by the end of the year or it might have to turn away families who don’t have a place to live.
The shelter provides temporary housing for those who have lost their homes for various reasons and offers referral services for such things as job searches and counseling, all designed to get families back into the mainstream. Last year the shelter helped 140 families but saw its donations drop significantly.

“We started to really worry when donations were down for the holiday season last year,” Family Shelter executive director Jonathan Artz said. “Every year we see ups and downs with donations to some degree, but ending 2010 with a deficit meant that 2011 would be even more difficult.”
Artz said the agency typically uses its lines of credit to make it through the summer months, when giving is lower. That money is paid back when donations come in during the holiday season, a practice followed by many other nonprofits.
But the slower than normal holiday has left the Family Shelter’s financial reserves seriously depleted. Artz said $100,000 is what the agency needs to pay back the lines of credit, establish a one-month operating reserve and meet its current financial obligations.
“We need to raise at least half of this in the next three months to be able to continue to provide emergency food and shelter to homeless families with children,” Artz said. “We need to raise all of it by the end of the year if we are going to be able to ensure that Family Shelter continues to be a resource in the community for the long-term future.”
The agency has taken some significant cost-cutting steps, he said, including reducing staff, renegotiating service contracts and lowering its food budget. Employees also have been required to contribute more toward their insurance premiums.
“Of course, we always use volunteers and donated goods as well to keep our expenses down,” Artz said. “The majority of our yardwork has always been done by volunteers.”
Artz said he realizes many families who haven’t lost their homes are facing financial struggles and may find it hard to give. “With the economic trouble of the past few years, many people are more focused on their own immediate situation right now rather than making a donation,” he said.
And he understands that many other service agencies are facing the same challenges. “I think that people in Columbia are by nature very generous, but there are so many worthy causes,” he said. “So even though we work together in the nonprofit community and support each other, to some degree we are in competition for our survival.”
That, he said, makes it all the more important that the agency use its resources wisely and work with other groups that provide supporting services.
For example, Artz explained that when a family comes to Family Shelter, they receive clothing and bus tickets from Cooperative Ministry and food purchased at a discount from Harvest Hope Food Bank, while their children are enrolled in the afterschool program at St. Lawrence Place or in daycare at Children’s Garden.
“It’s really a team effort, and it should be,” Artz said.
In addition to emergency housing, the Family Shelter’s services include job and housing searches, rental assistance, counseling and child care assistance. Last year the agency received more than 1,000 requests for assistance.
“The need for emergency shelter for homeless families with children in Columbia is enormous,” Artz said. “There really aren’t enough resources available for the children and parents in our community who need it most.”

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i never had an opportunity to live here. but i have had to call too see if they had room for a woman and a child. there wasnt any, and my son and i eventually ended up at HANNA HOUSE (sumpter st, columbia, SC).
my best freind sandy (tersea Sandy Elledge-Knapp) actually has has a few stints in this facility, and when she had her daughter Heather, she was residing there. i felt compassion for her situation, with a new baby and living in a shelter, and having to try to make ends meet, i offered her a bedroom in my duplex.
i was pregnant at the time, the year: 1994.
heather was just a few months old.
daniel hadnt even been born, and it would eventually be, 7 years more before id ever have to rely on a system to help me get back on my feet.
i have a very high respect for shelters, and the help they offer thse who are sincere in seeking out a way to manage a life thats spiraled out of control.
it saddens me, that our economy is so bad that those who REALLY need the help, may not end up getting it because the funds of people, and donations arnt as available.

be ever thankful, week to week, pay check-to paycheck, your not in the shoes of those who have to suffer even harder than i ever had too being homeless....one donation away from closing the doors to those who need help.

MICHELLE